A Reminder That Tenders and RFPs Are Not Good For You

Earlier today, when checking my mail, I clicked on a job notification from one of the largest translation portals, before I realized it had 'tender' in the job title.

Guess what I did?

I hit 'back'.

I just don't do tenders.

This is not to say that tenders can absolutely never be good for you, because that just wouldn't be true, at least not in that kind of extreme degree.

However, tenders are simply not designed to be profitable to you, or profitable to both parties, i.e. balanced.

Tenders were designed the way the are with the goal of maximizing the buyer's interest.

Look at what the buyer does if buying via RFPs. The buyer sits back in a fluffy armchair and sips his tea just as the sellers enter the arena and bleed their blood, sweat and tears into the sun-scorched sand. Himself, he doesn't have to lift a finger in order to get the entire benefit of negotiation, i.e. the full, maximum benefit of the bargain.

And, no part of the system usually provides for any return of costs even if you 'win'. Yes, you hear me right. Your 'prize' is the opportunity to sell your normal or slightly upgraded services for your normal or somewhat (heavily) discounted prices. There is nothing like paying you for the costs of processing the paperwork. No man-hours, no postage fees, no nothing. I'm talking about the 'winner' here, mind you, not the poor souls who 'lost'.

However, the poor souls who 'lost' may well be real winners in the end — they don't tie themselves up for months or years to come in what's a questionable deal from the beginning.

Chances are they will meet — and use — better opportunities in all that time.

Pretty much the only exception is when you are new to freelancing but not to translating, which means you don't have many clients yet and finding work is a problem but you do have the qualifications to win a tender without being the cheapest provider. Or when you have no alternatives, then it's basically a fact of life that you must reply to those RFPs and better not in vain, or you're going to starve. Or when you can benefit from price difference between the buyer's country and yours (possible if you live in a third-world country or even a second-world country like my own).

Like I said, the scope, the object of the tender is the provision of your services in the future, not the recovery of any costs you may have incurred in the past. The system is simply designed in such a way (which I might well say as a lawyer) that it doesn't give any specific thought to your cost or anything like that. It only gives thought to you not making any more profit than is absolutely inevitable.

Yes, you hear me right: The point of tenders and RFPs and all that is for you to not make any more profit than is absolutely unavoidable. The balance of the bargain is supposed to go over to the buyer, in whole.

Disclaimers and all that jazz

REPOSTING AND RIGHTS: Don't worry about copyrights and stuff when printing or sharing these posts for your own benefit or that of your friends. In fact, the point of them is to be read. You can also repost them whole if you think that will reach the audience better than linking to my blog here, or if you want to host a vigorous discussion on the subject among your commenters; it's all fine as long as you don't make a blog that's simply a copy of my blog. Feel free to translate the posts, too, or adapt them, just please mention the fact you did so on your own. Understand, however, that by reposting my posts in any way or form, including paper, you will not gain any sort of copyright or interest in my own copyright, let alone moral rights, other than limited protection of any significant value you actually add, where any such rights such as you may so acquire shall not restrict my own rights and freedom as the author or in any way impede the free, unpaid circulation of the material I created. Always credit me as the author.

NOT PROOFREAD OR EDITED: The posts are not always edited and proofread before posting. They are intended to represent the typical standard of blogs posts rather than printed works; I apologize for any inconvenience you may experience as a result. I simply prefer to write another post or five rather than either go back and reread old stuff or complete five rounds of editing before hitting the send button; this is more or less the point of having a blog. Still welcome to let me know if you find a typo or if anything's unclear, which may very well occasionally be the case due to the timing, such as late at night or in between urgent projects. Hence, before reposting any of this in a more serious setting than a blog or forum post, please drop me a line to give me the chance to apply some finishing touch or even ask me to write a proper article, which I'll be happy to do subject to time constraints.

NO ADVICE, NO CLIENT RELATIONSHIP: Nothing here consitutes legal, business, marketing, career or any other advice, at least not in the sense of establishing a lawyer-client or consultant-client relationship, not in the least because I didn't get a dime and because any implied contract is (hereby, herewith, etc.) expressly disclaimed. If what you find here is useful and informs your course of action, you still need to get proper legal advice appropriate to your jurisdiction and your unique factual situation, without exception. Likewise, consult such other advisors as are appropriate for proper business, marketing, career or other advice relevant to your situation. Whether or not you consult them, you agree to assume and do assume the responsibility and risk, with the consequence being, without limitation, that you can't sue me (and agree not to try) on the grounds of having relied on anything whatsoever on this blog.

NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIRD-PARTY SITES: Any links on this blog that don't expressly lead to other posts here should be presumed to lead to external sites that are outside my control. I am not responsible for the contents of such sites or their availability. Linking does not imply endorsement. By clicking on a link you expressly and enthusiastically declare for the benefit of any pesky government official anywhere that you did so out of the pure, unadulterated, spontaneous desire of your heart miraculously coupled with the informed and deliberate consent of your conscious, sovereign, unbroken will.

NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR COMMENTS YOU READ: If you find something illegal, obscene, hateful, etc., in the comments, let me know and, if I agree with your assessment, I'll axe the comment. You are hereby warned that I don't control the comments otherwise, they are the product of their own authors' expression. If you don't accept the risk that you might see something objectionable, don't read the comments.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR COMMENTS YOU POST: By posting a comment you agree to assume and do assume full and sole responsibility at law for posting whatever you post, even if I saw it and did not delete it, and even though you also agree that I may delete any comment at ultimately my sole discretion, with no liability to you, though I'll normally do so only if I find it to be spammy or more than just a little offensive. Further, you agree that if you subsequently decide to delete or modify your comment, you will need to do so on your own, and agree to do so on your own without involving me in the process. You agree not to post anything which is illegal, hateful, defamatory, spammy, in breach of a confidentiality obligation (or otherwise contains anything you are not free to disclose, including without limitation personal data) or infringes on anyone's legally protected rights. Advertising is forbidden.